ARC Review: The Tree Bears Witness by Sharath Komarraju

TITLE: The Tree Bears Witness
AUTHOR: Sharath Komarraju
PUBLISHER: Westland India/Amazon Publishing
GENRE: Historical Fiction/Mystery
BLURB: “Barely a month has passed since the royal wedding of Emperor Akbar to the legendary Jodha, when the new queen’s brother, Sujjamal, is found murdered in the palace gardens. With his honour and reputation at stake, Akbar asks his trusted advisor Birbal to solve the mystery. The murder has taken place in a garden, at a spot between two mango trees, and the two guards who are eyewitnesses have conflicting versions of what could have happened. Was it suicide? Was it Akbar himself who ordered the killing or was it the Rajputs who accompanied Sujjamal, his uncles and cousin, who are guilty?
Set in a period that has been described as the golden age of the Mughals, the novel draws us into the royal court of Agra, abuzz with political intrigue, personal enmities and hidden rivalries, where everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise.

MY RATING: 3.5

MY REVIEW:
The Tree Bears Witness is a murder mystery entwined with historical fiction. Sujjamal the new Queen’s(Hira Kunwari) cousin has been murdered and Akbar appoints his trusted courtier Birbal to solve the murder and catch the killer. Birbal starts about his investigations but is perplexed as everybody seems to be a suspect and everybody seems to have had hated Sujjamal and hence have the motive to kill him, including the King himself. With no witnesses to the murder actually happening and it being impossible for the murderer to have escaped from the murder scene without anyone seeing him/her, Birbal is troubled with more questions than getting any answers.

“Darkness and smoke. They allow a man to sit and think in peace.”

Being a keen enthusiast of the Mughal era this book interested me from the first time I heard about it. It is a whole new level to the Akbar Birbal stories that I’ve read and heard in my childhood. Sharath Komarraju weaves a skillful tale of mystery with a simple yet well structured writing style. Despite the easy writing the book keeps you hooked with its mysterious plot. Usually with any murder mystery the reader tends to try and guess the killer but in the case of this book the author manages you to mislead yourselves with a well written narrative and manages you to keep guessing till the last page. Sarath Komarraju’s version of Birbal also reminded me of ‘Hercule Poirot’ at times due to their similar quirks. This was definitely a different experience for me as a mystery read lover as the book weaves history into the story.
The thing I disliked about this book though were the editorial mistakes in it when it came to describing the Rajput relations. For instance, the author at first describes Bhagwant Das(Queen’s brother) as Sujjamal’s uncle when in reality he was Sujjamal’s cousin. In another instance he describes Bhagwant Das as the Queen’s(Hira Kunwari) uncle when in fact he was her brother. While I understand that this is fiction what irked me the most was the author mentioning the correct relations in a few occasions and wrongly in others. I would have ignored the errors if they hadn’t occurred more than once. This was the only part that hindered my reading experience. This editing mistake might have also been due to the fact that this was an ARC that I read and not a finished copy. It would have been a 4 star read if not for this.

While this is the second book in the Birbal series by the author and I haven’t read the first one that didn’t have any major effect on my reading experience. This book can definitely be enjoyed as a standalone without having to read the others in the series.
I would recommend this book to all the crime fiction enthusiasts looking for a light and quick read.

*Disclaimer: I was sent an ARC by Westland Publishers/Amazon Publishing for review, but all opinions stated are honest and unbiased.

That’s all for today folks! See you soon! 😀
xo,Rishi